My relationship with the Valkyrie is a tricky one. Part of me thinks enough is enough, I’ve got shelves full of them, from every series and every era. Because I have been involved with the design for so long, I can’t help but be curious when a new incarnation of the classic design arrives. I want to know “How did they do it this time?”

Plus, I know you the reader want to know if it’s any good. While I may have them, you may not. So while I probably wouldn’t have bought this for my own collection, my curiosity and the desire to bring you a review made me do it.

We all know the design by now, we all know the background. The VF-1 is the signature convertible fighter (Valkyrie) from the legendary TV series “Macross”. Despite achieving perfection with the initial Takatoku 1/55 Valkyrie, many toy companies still try to improve upon the design, often with mixed results. So how did Bandai do? It’s not their first foray into toys of this design – after Takatoku folded, Bandai took the molds and continued the line, and then later reissued them as the “Origin of Valkyrie” toys. In addition, they made some smaller-scale transforming Valkyries, and a high complete model version. This; however, is what I consider to be Bandai’s first “Modern” VF-1 toy.

The toy is part of Bandai’s VF HI-Metal line, which apparently must refer to the screws, as there’s little metal in it. The toy is safely 95% plastic, with the only metal being a connector bar and the feet. Be prepared.

The box is nice, if not small and light. The cover is secured by a magnet at the bottom and flips open to reveal a die-cut window, revealing the parts inside. There are a lot of parts.

Also notice the big block of English text on the box. Interesting.

The toy is small and light, but you have to remember that this is now in 1/100 scale, almost half the size of the Chunky Monkey. All of Bandai’s VF HI-Metal offerings are supposed to be in scale with each other, which makes a cool display when you can have Valkyries from different series in the same scale and toy line.

Since the toy is packaged in fighter mode, that’s where we will start. The sculpt is good, and things are well proportioned and nicely defined. Seam lines are unobtrusive and the toy holds together in a viable fighter mode. All details are printed on with no stickers to apply.

You can remove the canopy to get a good look at the miniature Hikaru Ichijo figure, which has painted details.

The air intake vents are nicely defined, adding to the look of a “real” fighter.

Due to the size, landing gear are separate parts that need to be attached to use. Hey, at least this one comes with landing gear, unlike the Fire Valkyrie.

The gun pod can be attached to the fighter with the use of a special connector part.

A second set of wings is included that have holes to attach the missile pods – these wings swap out easily. Four sets of missiles are included.

A special clear stand adapter is included for use with a Bandai Tamashii Stand (not included) to be used in fighter mode.

Gerwalk Mode

Before we get into the Gerwalk mode, I want to talk about the transformation. Like the Fire Valkyrie, It can be a perfect transformation if you are willing to settle for some anime inaccuracy. A default set of fists are included that can stow away in the arms, but they look very small. The vents on the legs need to be changed and the cockpit needs to be swapped out with the heat shield.

It is in the transformation to Gerwalk mode that the first changes become apparent. The way the shoulders slide along rails in the chest cavity is unique, but they pop off far too easily. The backpack has some neat hinges in the wings; the legs and arms have some great articulation, but it is in this mode that one of the first shortfalls of the figure becomes apparent – the feet.

Each foot consists of a front and back metal “toe” which are connected to a central piece via ball joints. The central piece connects inside the leg and allows you to pull the whole assembly down. Unfortunately the ball joints are not tight enough and have too much range of motion. Try to pose It, and the toes slide out of place repeatedly. You need a lot of patience and a steady hand to get it to stand in Gerwalk mode. It’s frustrating.

Robot Mode

The unique aspect of transformation into robot mode is the metal swing bar that connects the legs to the body. In the past many companies have tried different approaches to make this work – some favoring aesthetics, some favoring ease of use. I’m happy to say that this toy strikes a nice balance between the two. At the end of the bar is a plastic part that basically clamps on to the sides of the nose where those two bumps are, securing the legs to the torso. It looks nice, and is not too intrusive. It took me a minute to figure out the right way to place it, but once you get it, it makes sense.

Chest transformation is similar to the old valks, but I found myself popping off the chest plate by accident more than once. It goes back on easy enough, but it shouldn’t happen in the first place.

While you don’t have to swap them, you can switch out the intake vents on the legs with the solid panels. You can also replace the hands with either of two sets. One set is angular and mechanical, the other is rounded and more like the anime. Either way, the larger hands look great. You have an assortment of hands including closed fists and gun holding hands.

The head comes with an extra set of antenna, in case you break or lose one. One thing I don’t like about the head is the blank space around it. In other toys, the plate the head sits on would meet the back panel - here there’s just empty space. It doesn’t help that the back panel isn’t too tight and tends to fall back a little.

Comparison

So how does this Valkyrie compare to the competition?

1/100 Toynami Valkyrie

The Bandai toy uses higher quality materials, is more accurate, and has nicer packaging. However, the Toynami version is cheap and fun – almost $50 USD cheaper than the Bandai version, and that number goes up with international shipping. Although they are in scale, the toys serve very different purposes. Would you give this to a kid? No. Would you give the Toynami? Yes.

Yamato GN-U VF-1J

Similar scale, good construction, comes with a stand but does not transform. Only $10 or so cheaper – go with the Bandai.

Doesn’t transform, cheap plastic, but does come with super armor for $30 – go with the Bandai (although it’s the cheapest version with super packs). There is the transforming Revoltech version, but I still say skip it for this.

For my dollar, the best valk out there. Not at all anime accurate, but tons of fun. Only $30 more than the VF-Hi Metal, you can’t go wrong. Purists won’t like the inaccurate proportions.

Conclusion

I think it’s a fine effort on Bandai’s part, and it’s corrected some of the shortcomings of the previous releases. If you already have some of the aforementioned releases, this one is kind of unnecessary, but if you are looking for your first valk, this isn’t a bad choice.

Comments

I can see the appeal of this particular incarnation of the VF-Fighter. For my money though, the quality & perfect engineering of Yamato's 1/60 scale series is the only option for me. Of all my toys, of which most are modern, the Yamato 1/60 scale Valks are hands down amongst the best quality toy you can buy. The only way to buy a sharper looking version of the Valk is to build one of the model kits that are available. If only Yamato packaged their Valk in a smaller box to help keep shipping costs down... :(

It's good to know that this is a pretty solid piece. Although I still want to get a Yamato 1/60 Valkyrie first, if I were to see this in an import shop or an anime convention, I would likely pick it up. Nice review and comparison chart Josh.

These thing looks very good and detailed (for it''s size), but lately I've been going back and forth with the design of the VF-1. It does bring back memories from my childhood but after several years, the design seems rather outdated to me, so I don't feel the need to get it.

On the other hand, since I first saw the YF-19, I cannot get the dang thing off my head. It's my favorite Macross design by far (I also like the Destroid Tomahawk, wich looks a very rugged and tough machine) and I'm still deciding whether to get it or not.

In my own personal comparison of the 1/100 Bandai Hi-metal to the following:
1/100 Toynami -awful, everything falls apart, but at least you can put it back together.
1/60 Yamato ver. 1- awful leg/hip articulation and transformation. Nasty grey tinted white plastic.
1/60 Yamto ver. 2 - It's so beautiful---Just don't breathe on it . As good as it is, the fragile shoulder hinge is a real problem. And for $70-180 online it's not worth it.
1/55 Bandai/Toynami- Most "playable" and "toylike" Durable- can probably use it as a weapon in case of an emergency!

Overall the 1/100 Bandai Hi-metal is a good compromise between playability/durability and anime accuracy. Unlike the others, I enjoy playing and transforming this Valk. And at 1/100 size it's OK to bring to work and not declare to everyone that you're a geek.

You are the first person I've seen say the 1/100 Toynami valks were "awful". I'm wondering if you got a bad one or perhaps an earlier version of it (the line was rebooted after the initial wave years earlier). While they aren't the best iteration of the design, they've been considered by most to be the best bang for your valkyrie buck and a nice little toy.

Again with the never-ending Yamato shoulder talk. I'm beginning to wonder if it's become an urban myth where people are now just assuming it's really an issue. I and my friends have about a dozen Yamato valks between us of varying scales and manufacturing runs, none of them broke or have any issues with them. The one Yamato toy that broke was my Garland, and that seems to be the root issue that somehow caused everything Yamato makes to have an unjustified stigma of "they all break and are fragile". What do you people do with them, hold it by one arm and spin around like a child? Haven't we all decided by now that these aren't toys any more and are now collectibles?

I guess we needed to christen the new site with a Yamato rant, so that's done.

Regarding Josh's comparison to the GN-U, that whole line is pretty much defunct and marked down everywhere. Getting one for less than $30 is commonplace.

I think the shoulders were an issue in the earlier releases of the 1/60, but the latest ones have absolutely no problems. I have the DYRL? VF-1S Roy Foker anniversary addition and have 0 problems. Also have the VF-1A Max and Kakizaki, and the TV Roy, and again, no problems. In fact, the latter three have the newly designed crotches, and clear canopies. So at this point, the shoulders, at least for the releases in 2009 and after, are not an issue.

I gotta say I love this thing, i sold most of my 1/48's so now I only have 1 1s, 1 1a, and 1 1j. I only have 2 1/60's so these new smaller and slightly cheaper hi-metals are perfect, and I think personally it pulls off the best looking battroid mode of any valk toy out there.

Picked up a Tamashi Bandai 1/100 VF-1J Max type. Unfortunately the Right hand joint suffered from over-glue, so I spent a day filing it down to remove the glue so that I could rotate the hand from its compartment. Also paint suffered from over-glue damage down the right knee plate. I'm not sure if this is general QC issue with the Hi-metal line or just limited to this "web exclusive" version.

The box was also different than the Hikaru version. Rather than a flip top display case. It features a light blue monochrome box without a flip top. The graphics are the same as that on Hikaru's. The tray and contents are otherwise the same.

This is a really nice little figure, very detailed for its size, and if I didn't already start collecting the 1/60 Yamatos, I would be all over this line like a fat kid on a smartie. Honestly, when compared to the 1/60's, this just doesn't cut it. But if someone is thinking about getting into valks and is not wanting to pay for a 1/60, this is the line to get. However, the availability of this line is frustrating. This and the Roy one are readily available, but the VF-1As are now Tamashii web exclusives as well as the VF-1J Max. That means if you're a North American collector, you will have to pay a premium for these to be imported. Because of that, I really think it's just better to go with the 1/60s. With how well the newer versions are now made, I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone not incredibly happy with their purchase.

All in all though, very nice little toy, highly articulate and lots of fun to play with so long as you don't mind parts swapping. Definitely better than anything else in this scale. (I don't own a Toynami, but plan to in the future to see how well it compares). And the box is so nice, I find it hard to bring myself to throw it out!